and among homeless men, 33%, a full third of our population, our veterans. even more strikingly, the fastest-growing segment of our homeless population is represented by female veterans. this is a tragic and shameful. and the veterans administration, partnering with the salvation army and so many others, are doing specifically the right thing. there are many causes, of course, for homelessness. one loses a job. they are at risk of homelessness. it increases exponentially. of course, with three-quarters of our veterans dealing with issues of alcohol abuse, substance abuse, and mental health issues, keeping a job and stabilizing in one's life is merely becomes impossible. it is only by working together

that we are going to get this done. and i have -- a little love from the california state senate. yes, we're busted, but we put this together to be able to bring you this recognition today and in thanking the san francisco's veteran administration medical center, and of course our great friends of the salvation army here at the harbor light centered for joining forces, for the check presentation, which will be made in a moment, in support of this expansion. of course, this does not solve the problem. as we say in jewish tradition, we're taught that ours is not to complete the task. neither is it for us not to begin in it. today we begin the task. if i may present this to you. [applause]

>> thank you. [applause] >> our next speaker is edwin lee, mayor of san francisco. he first began working for the city and county of san francisco in 1989 as the investigator for the city's first whistleblowing ordinance and has since served as executive director of the human rights commission, director of the city purchasing, and director of the department of public works before he was first appointed as the city administrator in 2005. please join me in welcoming mayor lee. [applause] >> that is good.

she said the microphone was already set for me. [laughter] it is my honor to be here. certainly my honor to joint leader policy and senator leno, the veterans administration, the doctor, chief suhr, and are homeless coordinator for the city. bobbi, i wanted to make sure that you knew this city and county of san francisco, my administration, we're absolutely not firmly committed to ending homelessness for our veterans by 2015. no doubt here. no doubt here. [applause] i am here in ottawa celebrate the additional beds, which are absolutely needed, but they're also want to make sure i say this -- people who have served in our armed forces, thank you very much. to wipe everything you have done but you have been there for us. it is a return to be here for you. -- thank you for everything you

have done. thank you for your service to our country. [applause] our work at the local level, as dr. jesse mentioned, is in coordination with our regional partners, our federal partners, and we all, as mentioned earlier, have to do this together. that is why we have had great partnerships with our social service teams, our state -- are salvation army, and our chinese community development corporation, our hud, which expressed to sean donovan some time ago that there were making great strides and efforts to make sure that there was going to be more housing targeted for our veterans. we have been doing that right at the local level. some years ago, we began with the veterans academy, 102 units built in the presidio. now, today, san francisco, through our project always

connect that created the veterans connect, a very dedicated, focused out reach on our veterans to make sure they know how to connect up with all of our services. social services, mental services, health services, housing, and appointment. just last year, we started the veterans portal, which would connect to one of our most in the city, our 311. wherever it can just make a call and online, and all the services are set together so you can navigate. not physically trying to run around to look or things are, but it is all in one portal, you can find all the services. that is a tremendous contribution. and then today, as we speak, we're building a 75-unit partnership with a source of

housing share and chinese community organization, right there at 150 otis street. supportive housing with a $1.7 million grant from hud. we continue working with you, bobbi. i wanted thank you for your work because you make it so seem less, and you're always looking for the gaps that we have. we know at the local level, we cannot afford to have any gaps as far as veterans. i want to thank all of you for being here. i want to acknowledge that we do work with our federal -- i want to thank president obama. i want to thank leader pelosi. i want to think secretary shinseki in the whole veterans administration for working together with us. because it will happen right here at the local level. again, i want to thank our veterans, the men and women who serve in the armed forces.

we will be there for you right here in san francisco. thank you very much. [applause] >> our next speaker needs little introduction. since 1987, nancy pelosi has represented california's eighth district in the house of representatives. overwhelmingly elected by her colleagues in the fall of 2002 as the democratic leader of the house of representatives. nancy pelosi is the first woman in american history to lead a major party in the u.s. congress. on january 4, 2007, she was elected as the first woman to serve as the speaker of the house. since 2010, she has served as the democratic leader. leader pelosi has been -- [applause] leader pelosi has been a

longtime supporter of veterans, but she has also been a longtime supporter of homeless veterans. i do not know if you remember this, but i do. about 15 years ago, her and former mayor brown came to 13th and mission. they heard about this government's of homeless center to serve homeless veterans, and she took the time to come and to tore and see what we were doing at 13th and mission. i was a young social worker at the time, and i was very impressed, so thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. it is a personal pleasure to be here at the salvation army today. thank you so much for your hospitality. coming here, walking through, almost double-seen this a beautiful space came as a surprise, but how appropriate that it is here for our homeless

veterans but i am honored to join the major. thank you mr. mayer for being such a great mayor of san francisco and your commitment to veterans. we're proud of the work that is done in the community here, and it serves as a good example nationally. bobbi is a wonderful person. her persistence in this i know has been paying off for our veterans and will continue to do so. i am pleased to be here with mark leno, another member of the official family in san francisco as well. thank you for your leadership. i join my friends in welcoming you, mr. secretary, dr., thank you for coming, honoring us, dr. jesse, for honoring us with your presence. and sheila cullen is relentless

when it comes to veterans, and thank you so much for your leadership. she knows how many issues we have been involved in an overtime, and she has been a tremendous leader. i want to would knowledge two more people. one is a veteran of the 21st century, serving in the early part of this century. and another one from the 1970's, a veteran from the 1970's. as we acknowledge them, let's have all the veterans who are here on the audience stand so they can be acknowledged. [applause] thank you all for your service to our country. i want to take a couple of moments to tell you why i think this is such a special occasion and a pivotal one. i will be a little personal about it. i said it was a personal pleasure to be at the salvation

army. one of the little girl and as a teenager, my father was the mayor of baltimore as first lady, my mother's special charity was the salvation army. we were all so always dressing dolls, ringing bells, having luncheons. i grew up with a very healthy regard for the salvation army and its contribution to our society. thank you to the salvation army. [applause] thank you, colonel smith, and all of your colleagues here for what you're doing for our homeless veterans. when i became the leader -- what was that, 2003, 2005, something like that, we planted a flag for our veterans. we said everybody talks about these things, but there is so much more that needs to be done. we're going to plant a flag. we're going to establish our priorities and listening to what the veterans have to say to us about their situation. and we put together -- it must

be about, would you say, michael, 100 representatives of veterans' service organizations, blue start families, a goldstar wives, the whole kit and caboodle of service, to hear how we can do a better job to reach out. thank you to your leadership and outreach, because that is so important. our representative from this committee, michael blecker, who was here, thank you so much for your leadership. [applause] a speech so eloquent as to what we're doing in the community- based way. that is why, yes, i would want to come over and see that particular initiative. because when we do these things here, sometimes it requires a change in at the law to facilitate the effective implementation of a community- based idea. sometimes we have to change the

law. sometimes we have to increase the funding. sometimes we have to raise the visibility. end -- and the presidio would not have happened without that. your ideas, community-based, developed by veterans themselves and those who care about them, not only are effective here to serve as a model for the rest of the country. one thing that has told this is they wanted their own budget in wanted it early. the want to get involved in all the budget debates that had uncertainty as to how the veterans would be funded. we said if we win, we will have a veterans of budget, and it will be advanced funding. any arguments you see budget, none of that applies to vets, because there advanced funding

for another year. they said it wanted -- [applause] they said they wanted a gi bill for the 21st century, and we did just that for the iraq and afghanistan events. all together with the changes in the va, the funding, and all the rest, more changes were made then since the original gi bill so many years ago. i want to say something about general shinseki. i first met him when i went on an intelligence visit to sarajevo, and he was leading the fight in the balkans. i saw him, this strong leader, cared so much about his troops. effective leadership. we were in awe of him as a commander, and we are in awe of him as secretary of veterans affairs. because he knows how to lead, and he cares about our veterans,

as secretary jesse pointed out so clearly. so i want to acknowledge his leadership. and that of president obama's as well and mrs. obama and dr. joe biden as well for caring for our military families. -- and dr. jill biden as well. [applause] when we visited general shinseki on the battlefield, i was reminded of the say in the military, on the battlefield, we need no soldiers in kind. and we say in congress, and when they come home, we leave no veterans behind. no veterans behind. [applause] for us in congress, every day is veterans day. because every day we understand the moral obligation we have to our veterans for making as the home of the brave -- and the land of the free and the home of

the bridge. and we're very, very proud of your patriotism, your courage, sacrifices that you're willing to make for our country. and now we have important work to do. we have more important to work to do to end homelessness, and we're on that track. thank goodness for the local initiatives, bobbi, secretary shinseki, president obama -- it is everybody's priority. we want to have the health services that our veterans need be available to them and that they know about what is available. that is why that support is very important. are you a veteran? a reserve in the military? however you want to say it, that they will respond to, is a very important. but president obama as american jobs that makes specific reference to jobs for our veterans. as michael will tell you, in our meeting, jobs, jobs, jobs.

of course homelessness is an issue but the issue of jobs for our veterans is very important. we have story after story that is so sad about veterans coming home from service to our country, risking their lives, and the job they had before -- not only is the job not there, the factory is not there. but we have a make it an american initiative that says we want to honor all agencies of government as a model to the private sector to make it in america and provide jobs to our veterans when they come home. [applause] we have the hiring heroes act for small businesses and contractors. what i have talked to the administration about and what we have legislation for is to say, our veterans, they, too, know how to lead. we want them to have jobs. not only that, we want them to

have ownership. we want them to have equity. we want them to be about to start their own small businesses and be job-graders. so they, again, not only have jobs, that they can reach out and create jobs for others. we want the federal government in every agency in government to honor the veterans and make that a party, reaching out to veterans and so that they can take their rightful place at having a stake beyond a job. and great president of united states, abraham lincoln, said, for those who return home, it is our responsibility to care for him. now we will say, and her, who should have borne the battle. he also said this for his widow. for the sacrifices that you all have been willing to make for our country, for the opportunity to provide for the rest of us to

drive and again be the land of the free and the home of the brave, we are enormously grateful. today, this is an example of what people working together can do. about changing public policy in washington to accommodate the local initiatives that advance the cause of our veterans. let there be no doubt that homelessness for our veterans will end. it is really sad that we have to make this initiative, but we do, and we will succeed with it. and we will do so with the full understanding of how you, our veterans, would like this done, what works for you as you have observed and lead for our country. so i congratulate the salvation army.

i congratulate the va. i personally command bobbi for her persistence, her energy on behalf of helping us all honor our commitment to our veterans. god has currently blessed america with your service. may god bless america forever. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. today has been a day about honoring our community partners and demonstrating our commitment to end homelessness among veterans. to illustrate the commitment, the department of veterans affairs is presenting the salvation army are perlite center with a check in the amount of $297,561 to support the expansion of their veteran dormitory.

[applause] this money will help support the creation of 10 new beds, so the salvation army will now have 34 beds to serve homeless veterans and their families, and the residents should be open in 2011. i now invite the chairman of the heart perlite center advisory council to accept the check from dr. robert jesse. and did you bring the check in your pocket? ok, thank you. carrying the check, we have veterans and residents, czech and delight. thank you both for being here,

and thank you for your service. [applause] >> i think it ae's public and private property. i'm against graffiti. >> who can get it out the most who can be noticed the most. >> i i've seen seniors doing graffiti. >> the city is art, other people who have their names tag -- >> [inaudible] our unit there

are 2 sections we are doing one is abating and others are notice of violation to private property. all the utility boxes in public right-of-way we abate. >> we abate calls that come within 48 hours. >> we are a small group in g f graffiti. we don't have enough help. >> i have a group in town down and china town and the north tunnel. [inaudible] the graffiti we abate everything is coming up to the areas now. >> i'm willing to take it on. i think -- >> you are telling me you are ready for this? >> i think so. >> okay. >> there you go.

>> all right. >> all right. >> ready to do it. let's go. >> want to get the gray signses this over here and the garbage can and normally we don't do private property since it's on the corridor route you can come with me we will use black. >> we had a lot of changes in the graffiti unit. we do private property if someone moved we remove it and send it to the attorney's office and they take appropriate action. >> damage their property there. it's important to write the color in case they want to say what part of our house you abated the graffiti on. >> using your safety glasses the gloves. >> you got it.

>> you know some places we gashi, people appreciate that. you know, a lot of timeses they say, thank you. >> the time where it's visible. a lot of people put it on the ground. >> i like when tourists come and say, you do this for your city and you get paid for that? >> we use the [inaudible] for the holes and the retaining walls. [inaudible].

white on the fire hydrants. fire box red for the fire boxes. our brown for the pg and e poles. >> we are not painters we do our best. >> i'm assuming it has to do with gang activity. >> if it's territorial i mind. >> in case it's gang related and they are marking our territory i would like to paint it over. >> anything with numbers like x iv or x 13 west side mob and the bay view those are gang related. with gang related or profanity we will abait it as soon as

possible. >> i consider it an art. there are circles of people that form around it whether or not they should ruin public property. >> this is art work i'm for it. unless it's on someone's property and they don't want it there. judge kids with silver paint expressing their ego needs doesn't belong on our property. >> graffiti is when you don't have permission to write anything on their property. >> eighth street is part of your regular rout? >> yes. >> everyday. >> eighth street. divisidero street. irving street. every block they going through they paint 3 or 4 streets in the block the poles the utility boxes, mailbox.

>> thank you. >> okay. >> put the drop cloth. come on around. >> there you go. force for we have to remember we are not painters we abate graffiti. we are abaters not painters. get that out of the way and keep moving. >> how many of these do you do a day? how many poles we do a day? >> yeah. >> depends on the location. may be 20. >> do you like working with the team? >> yes because i'm a people

person. i like being outside and interacting with the public and i like the response we get especially from the good job we do in the community. >> goodbye. >> the next time you take a muni bus or train, there could be new technology that could make it easier to get to your destination. many are taking a position of next bus technology now in use around the city. updated at regular intervals from the comfort of their home or workplace. next